Few laymen realize that biotechnology created the cheese and beer of the medieval monasteries. Instead, they believe that genetic engineering is synonymous with the term biotechnology and all too often it confuses or even frightens them.
As those of us here know, the field encompasses a wide range of discipline which are reflected by many of your organizations. The strides of the last thirty years have been made possible by the vision of scientists, the advancement of technology and the courage of companies and individuals.
Unfortunately, as Josephy McInerey of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study in Colorado Springs, Colorado states, "the growth of biotechnology also coincides with a growing international consensus that general scientific literacy is inadequate." Colleges and universities are moving in the right direction, but we have thousands of eager, intelligent high school students in this country who are excluded from any study of biotechnology or are introduced to the challenge but are forced to work with inaccurate, old-fashioned equipment.
The former problem is due to the lack of training and awareness necessary for teaching the subject. The latter, that school boards may be reluctant to fund the equipment necessary for performing experimentation in this area.
Agencies like the NSF, NIH, and the Howard Hughes Institute have been funding summer training programs to update teachers in biotechnology. Unfortunately, these agencies are not supplying the equipment necessary to perform the experimentation. Science departments have very limited equipment and supply budgets. The money goes instead to textbooks. Here we have a unique opportunity for industry to take the initiative and form partnerships with schools in their locales.
How do local industries form partnerships? I might suggest that the science or marketing directors contact the science coordinator or chairperson of the school district in your area. Find out in what ways your company may be of assistance to the teachers and ultimately the students. Many companies keep equipment for a five year period, depreciating the items at 20% per year and discard the items. I was the recipient of such a piece of equipment, an Eppendorf microcentrafuge from Texaco, Inc. Other companies may have demonstration units which cannot be sold as new items. Schools need incubators, shaking water baths, regular water baths, mircropipetters, water purification systems, bench top sterilizers and fermenters, power supplies, gel electrophoresis units, hot plates, computers and printers. If any of these are sitting idle in your company, call you local high school and ask if they can use this equipment. Offer to train the teachers and some students in their use.
Companies may also supply speakers on the various discipline of biotechnology. Some companies produce educational literature which may be of value to a school district. I have received wonderful materials from Hoffman La Roche, Lifecodes, Cellmark Diagnostics, the Viris Company and Monsato. Other companies also offer corporate training programs which could be of use to train local teachers. Examples include Life Technologies, American Type Culture Collection, and Exon-Intron, Inc.
Summer jobs for students and teachers may be another way companies can get involved. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Tarrytown, NY is currently interested in the concept of using student interns. The New York University Toxicology Unit at Sterling Forest, NY has already been involved in the hiring of qualified high school students from my high school for summer employment. Companies can also help by hosting guided tours of their facilities. In this way, students can actually see science in action. Mentoring programs for students considering science would be invaluable. Remember too that we are educating the technicians as well as the scientists and researchers of tomorrow. And lastly, companies may be in a position to give cash donations to worthy projects. I have received cash donations from Novo/Nordisk, Dorr-Oliver, 3M, and Ciba-Geigy to name a few.
My school district has supported my mailings, my phone calls, and my moments of doubt. It gave me summer grants to work towards my goal. Because I have been the beneficiary of excellent equipment, my students use 200 dollar micropipetters instead of 1 dollar capillary tubes and wear laboratory coats instead of laboratory aprons. In the beginning of the year they wanted to wear the lab coats to lunch. They were so proud of them. If we want our children to rise to the challenge, we need to stimulate them intellectually and creatively. It is very exciting to feel one is on the cutting edge rather than the poor stepsister.
It is important to remember, that all of your businesses can benefit from the good public relations derived from networking with schools. The collaboration with secondary schools is an effective way to elicit public support for your activities.
In the next few months the film Jurassic Park will be launched. It will no doubt be enormously entertaining. I see it as a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the interdependence of literature, science, and the arts. That's what education is all about. We empower our students by helping them see the bigger picture. I challenge you to work with teachers and students to create a learning team.